Research

Arcata — Humboldt State University recently received a $308,598 grant from the national Joint Fire Science Program to provide forestland managers with comprehensive, up-to-date techniques for reducing wildland fuels in the western United States.

In its largest delegation to date, the Model United Nations program at Humboldt State University’s Department of Politics sent 31 students to San Francisco for the 2009 five-day intercollegiate simulation of the U.N., where they garnered five Meritorious Delegation Awards. The results placed HSU among the top three performers at the conference for the third year running.

Arcata – The Redwood Coast’s fast-growing Latino population needs a major expansion of bilingual medical services, including dental care, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis by the California Center for Rural Policy at Humboldt State University.

Arcata - Armeda Reitzel, Music Department chair and professor of communication at Humboldt State University, will attend two intensive study sessions this summer sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the federal agency founded in 1965 to foster excellence in education and public knowledge of the lessons of history.

Arcata – Richard Engel, Senior Research Engineer at Humboldt State University’s Schatz Energy Research Center and an HSU alumnus (’88), has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture and develop curriculum at Universidad Don Bosco in El Salvador during the 2009-2010 academic year.

Arcata – Community-based research by Humboldt State University faculty and students is helping to curb pesticide exposure in the Central and Salinas Valleys and ease the health threat to farm workers and school children.

Following an evening of intense competition against teams from throughout the U.S. and Canada, the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers (APCG) team took top honors at this year’s World Geography Bowl Competition in Las Vegas on March 24. Humboldt State University was well-represented in the competition, as the team included three alumni and one current faculty member.

HSU Geography major Ted Bliss was elected Secretary General of the 2010 Model Arab League. Bliss joined a delegation of 30 students from Dr. Paul Blank's Geography of the Middle East class and the Arabic Peace and Culture Club.

Arcata – Humboldt State University graduating senior Ranjan Hatch, a Biology major, has won a scholarship to serve as a university English teaching assistant in Malaysia through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

Humboldt State journalism students collaborated this semester with the Student Press Law Center, a national legal assistance agency that supports high school and college press freedom, on records requests that tested the responsiveness of more than 100 colleges and universities. HSU was one of three schools—the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and the University of North Texas were the others—that sent letters to 95 public and 20 private institutions seeking documents on student disciplinary complaints and cases.

Your cup of coffee probably seems rather banal. Grind the beans, add some water, apply heat and, presto, ready-to-drink stimulant. But there’s a lot more to the ubiquitous beverage. As two Humboldt State professors and their students are discovering, it all comes back to the birds and the bees.

Jennifer Wheeler, botanist with the BLM's Arcata Field Office, has received the Karl Urban Celebrating Wildflowers Award, a national honor recognizing her exemplary work conserving native plants through creativity, community involvement, volunteer programs and educational efforts. (text continues below)

Humboldt State University’s Logging Sports Club racked up eight victories, four second places and seven third places in contests at the 2009 Association of Western Forestry Clubs Conclave, which was held for the first time in tandem with the Redwood Region Logging Conference, March 19-21, at Redwood Acres Fairgrounds. Part of the action was captured by a crew from ESPN U. You can check out a slide show at "ESPN's Timbersports site":http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/timbersports/gallery?page=index_2009….

Cheri Anchondo, who is a double major in Dance (Interdisciplinary Studies) and Geography, had her dance selected as one of the top 10 dances (out of 66 dances) in the Northwest Region. Anchondo’s dance was featured in a Gala concert that closed the conference activities.

Arcata - The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has approved $17.5 million in funding for training in stem cell research at universities and research institutions across the state, with an anticipated $1.6 million slated for Humboldt State University.

Arcata – Youth Educational Services (Y.E.S.), the student-run volunteer organization at Humboldt State University, is partnering with Eureka’s Alice Birney Elementary School for its spring Serve-a-Thon and work on Cesar Chavez Day.

Victoria Sama, an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, produced a natural sound video of the recent seventh annual Humboldt Aleutian Geese 'Fly-Off' that was broadcast on CNN.

Arcata - Dr. Ray Wang, Director of Humboldt State’s Chinese Studies program and Dean of the University Library, has been named by the Carter Center in Atlanta to a fact-finding mission to China, March 30 to April 6.

Judith Little, Professor Emeritus with the Department of Sociology, was honored by the Association on Applied and Clinical Sociology (AACS). Beginning Fall 2009, the student team winning an applied sociology competition will be recognized with the “Judith Little Student Award.”

"When I came to Humboldt people kept saying, 'You'll like our fire table.' I was thinking, 'What the heck is the fire table?' says Professor Morgan Varner, a fire scientist at HSU. "So, when I came into the Wildland Fire Lab and they lowered the hood I thought, 'Oh, wow, this is perfect!'"

Lisa Perry, the Recruiter for the College of Natural Resources and Sciences was awarded the Roy Derek Berridge Memorial Award by the Sierra Cascade Logging Conference (SCLC) in Redding on Feb. 12, 2008.

The Sierra cascade Logging Conference hosted their annual Logging Sports Competition and Demonstration, which included Humboldt State, Cal poly, Cal Berkley, Modesto Junior College, and Central Oregon Community College.

Arcata – Humboldt State University Geology Professor Lori Dengler, an international authority on tsunami and earthquake mitigation, has won the 2009 Alfred E. Alquist Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Earthquake Safety.

William Shubert, a Geography major at Humboldt State, was recently awarded an internship with National Geographic in Washington D.C. The internship will begin in the fall of 2009.

Arcata - Humboldt State University ranks 14th, up from 20th last year, among all medium-size colleges and universities contributing Peace Corps Volunteers, according to the organization’s Top Colleges list for 2009.